The November Paintings

THE NOVEMBER PAINTINGS

In the state of Wisconsin, the month of November is an in-between time, bearing little trace of the colorful autumn of which it is technically a part, and reflecting only a hazy shade of the winter that is sure to follow. But for me personally, November is less about the shift from one season to another than it is about the shift from one paradigm to another. For me November has come to represent all of those moments in life----sometimes glorious, sometimes scary, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes disorienting, but always strangely exhilarating---in which one feels the full effect of the unprecedented suddenly bearing down upon the familiar.

I have experienced many paradigm shifts over the course of my life, many "Novembers," and so eventually I realized I had little choice but to allow this idea of November to serve as the focus for a collection of paintings. Inspired by Japanese Sumi-e painting and calligraphy, and by the Abstract Expressionists (especially Franz Kline and Jackson Pollack), this new work premiered at Madison's Commonwealth Gallery in November of 2012. The images below comprise a representative sampling of the over 50 works that were on display.